Sun tracing device

ABSTRACT

A sun tracing device includes a power unit having an elevating element, a supporting plate carrying a photoelectric transformation unit, and an adjusting unit coupled to the power unit and the supporting plate. The power unit is used to lift/lower the adjusting unit, so that the adjusting unit can rotate and/or lift/lower the supporting plate.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Non-provisional application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119(a)on Patent Application No(s). 097135137 filed in Taiwan, Republic ofChina on Sep. 12, 2008, the entire contents of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a sun tracing device that canautomatically return a risen solar panel back by a weight instead ofextra forces.

2. Related Art

As the global warming is getting serious, an industry, especially thesolar energy industry, based on environment protection and energy savinghas become popular. Since the solar energy industry shares similarmaterials and manufacturing properties with the matured semiconductorand panel industries, it has become the first choice for the high-techcompanies that are interested in environment protection and energysaving, and have sufficient technology and human resources.

Other than the limitation of the materials used by the solar system, thesolar energy can be easily restricted for its own properties. Forexample, by the different climate changes, different locations of thesolar energy system, or different times, the conversion efficiency ofthe solar energy is greatly affected. Therefore, in the currenttechnology, the sun tracing device may be built in the solar energysystem for reducing the effects caused by these environmental factors,so that the solar panels in the solar energy system are able to tracethe changing position of the sun, so as to help the solar panels absorbmore of the lights.

However, the extra electricity or power must be inputted as the powersource to the sun tracing device for driving the whole device so as tomake the solar cell aim at the sun. In general, the solar energy systemcarrying the sun tracing device must consume about 5 to 15% of thegenerated power for driving the connected sun tracing device. Therefore,the number of the solar panels in the sun tracing device must beincreased for compensating the power consumed by the sun tracing device.

Hence, it is a very important subject in the solar energy technology toprovide an energy saving sun tracing device for enhancing the powerefficiency of the entire solar energy system.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, the present invention is to provide a suntracing device, on which a solar panel can more accurately aim at thesun by an adjusting movement such as a rough adjustment(lifting/lowering) and a fine adjustment (rotating and/or slightlylifting/lowering).

The present invention is also to provide a sun tracing device includinga photoelectric transformation unit. The sun tracing device of thepresent invention can be returned to an initial state from a risingstate so as to effectively reduce the energy consumed by the sun tracingdevice, hence increase the overall electro-optic conversion efficiencyof the photoelectric transformation unit.

The present invention is further to provide a sun tracing deviceutilizing the photoelectric sensing for omni-directionally driving arough adjustment and a fine adjustment thereof, such that the suntracing device can automatically trace the sun.

To achieve the above, the present invention is to provide a sun tracingdevice including a power unit having at least one elevating element, asupporting plate carrying a photoelectric transformation unit, and anadjusting unit coupled to the elevating element and the supportingplate. The power unit is used to lift/lower the adjusting unit that isused to change the tilt angle of the supporting plate.

The power unit is further connected to a containing unit substantially,and the power unit and the containing unit contain a fluid flowingbetween the power unit and the containing unit. Moreover, the power unitand/or the containing unit are further connected to an external powerunit, so as to provide the power for driving the fluid from thecontaining unit to the power unit. Therefore, after the external powerunit drives the fluid from the containing unit to the power unit, thefluid would have a higher energy. At this time, the weight of the suntracing device may be transferred to a fluid with a higher energy by theelevating element of the power unit (e.g. led by the weight of thesupporting plate, the solar panel, or other structures), so that thefluid can automatically flow back to the containing unit under theweight effect of the sun tracing device.

As described above, a sun tracing device of the present invention isused to lift or lower the height of the adjusting unit by the powerunit, and is used to finely adjust the tilt angle of the supportingplate by the adjusting unit. For the energy conversion is performed bythe flowing of the fluid, the sun tracing device can be returned to theinitial state automatically by its own weight; thus, no extra force forthe sun tracing device is needed in the sun tracing process. Inaddition, the sun tracing device of the present invention can bedirectionally adjusted according to the moving speed and the anglevariation of the sun. Compared to the prior art, the sun tracing deviceof the present invention can gradually return the lifted power unit backto the initial position by its own weight effect (e.g. the weight of thesupporting plate, solar panel, or other structures for pressing thepower unit), such that no extra force have to be applied, hence theenergy can be saved and the solar cell can accurately aim at the sun.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will become more fully understood from the detaileddescription and accompanying drawings, which are given for illustrationonly, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic views of an initial structure of a suntracing device in different view angles;

FIGS. 2A and 2B are schematic views of a using structure of a suntracing device in different view angles; and

FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic views of a final structure of a suntracing device in different view angles.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention will be apparent from the following detaileddescription, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings,wherein the same references relate to the same elements.

FIGS. 1A and 1B are schematic views of an initial structure of a suntracing device 2 in the different view angles. FIGS. 2A and 2B areschematic views of a using structure of a sun tracing device 2 in thedifferent view angles. FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic views of a finalstructure of a sun tracing device 2 in the different view angles. Withreference to FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B, these figuresrespectively disclose the structural schematic views of an initial state(e.g. at sunrise), a using state (e.g. in the noon), and a final state(e.g. in the evening) of a sun tracing device (carrying a photoelectrictransformation unit 1) in the different view angles. The sun tracingdevice 2 that includes a power unit 22, a supporting plate 26, and anadjusting unit 24 further has a sensing unit 28. The power unit 22 hasat least one elevating element 22 a, the supporting plate 26 carrying aphotoelectric transformation unit 11 (e.g. a solar panel), and theadjusting unit 24 coupled to the elevating element 22 a and thesupporting plate 26. The power unit 22 may be used to lift or lower theadjusting unit 24 and the sensing unit 28 controls the adjusting unit 24to rotate the supporting plate 26, so that the photoelectrictransformation unit 11 on the supporting plate 26 may keep the optimalcontact angle (e.g. perpendicular) with the sunray (shown as the arrowwith dotted line).

More specifically, the power unit 22 is further connected to acontaining unit 30 substantially, and the power unit 22 and thecontaining unit 30 have a fluid F flowing between the power unit 22 andthe containing unit 30. In other words, the power unit 22 has a fluidvat 22 b that is connected to the containing unit 30, such that thefluid F flows between the fluid vat 22 b and the containing unit 30.

Moreover, the fluid F may be delivered from the containing unit 30 tothe fluid vat 22 b by an external force (e.g. a pump). However, if thefluid F is in the fluid vat 22, the fluid F can be pressed by the weightof the supporting plate 26 and the adjusting unit 24, or of otherstructures (i.e. weight effect) so that the fluid F automatically flows(e.g. leaking) from the fluid vat 22 b to the containing unit 30.

As a matter of course, the above-mentioned fluid F may be liquid, gas,or the combination of both. To effectively control the flowing state(e.g. the speed and the flow rate) of the fluid F flowing from the fluidvat 22 b to the containing unit 30, the flowing speed and the flow rateof the fluid F may further be controlled by a valve 22 c (e.g. thethrottle valve, three-way valve, ball valve, and control valve, etc)while leaking.

Additionally, the adjusting unit 24 further includes a connectingelement 24 c and at least three shaft arms 24 a and 24 b. The connectingelement 24 c is connected to the elevating element 22 a of the powerunit 22. The shaft arms 24 a and 24 b are coupled to the connectingelement 24 c and supporting plate 26. Each of the shaft arms 24 a and 24b has at least one end located on the same plane and connected to asurface of the supporting plate 26. In other words, these ends of theshaft arms 24 a and 24 b, which are connected to the supporting plate26, construct a co-planar structure. It is noted that a part of theshaft arms 24 a is extensible and/or compressible and a part of theshaft arm 24 b is fixedly held against the supporting plate 26.Therefore, when the position of the sun subtly varies with the seasons,the shaft arms 24 a and 24 b may adjust the lengths for finely adjustingthe tilt angle of the supporting plate 26, such that the photoelectrictransformation unit 1 on the supporting plate 26 can aim at the sun moreaccurately.

In addition, only three shaft arms 24 a and 24 b are illustrated as theexamples in the embodiment. Two shaft arms 24 a are extensible and/orcompressible and another shaft arm 24 b that is fixedly held against thesupporting plate 26 has a rotatable shaft for flexibly rotating thesupporting plate 26 after adjustment. In the embodiment, the adjustmentand the rotation of the shaft arms 24 a and the shaft arm 24 b are usedas the examples but not limited to these movements. Furthermore, the suntracing device 2 of the present invention is not limited to the aspectof three shaft arms.

The above-mentioned sensing unit 28 is used to control the adjustingunit 24 for rotating the angle of the supporting plate 26. For example,the angle and the position of the sun vary with the changing of theseasons. In order to achieve the optimal electro-optic conversionefficiency of the photoelectric transformation unit 1, the optimalrotating angle of the supporting plate 26 at every time unit can bedetected by the sensing unit 28, and the adjusting length of the shaftarm 24 a and the tilt angle of the shaft arm 24 b of the adjusting unit24 are independently driven, such that the supporting plate 26 can aimat the angle of the sun more accurately.

Moreover, other than the above-mentioned power unit 22, thephotoelectric transformation unit 1 can aim at the sunray by the sensingunit 28 controlling the adjustment and rotation of the three shaft arms24 a and 24 b, so as to fine adjust the tilt angle of the supportingplate 26. To be specific, the sensing unit 28 may be disposed on theperiphery and/or the back surface of the supporting plate 26 and/or thephotoelectric transformation unit 1. In other words, the sensing unit 28must be disposed on at least one periphery (e.g. the upward, downward,left, and right directions) and/or the back surface (e.g. the backsurface of the photoelectric transformation unit 1 faces east) of thesupporting plate 26 and/or photoelectric transformation unit 1, so as toomni-directionally sense the angle variation of the sunray. Forinstance, when the sensing unit 28 that has a plurality of sensors (notshown) is disposed on at least one periphery and back surface of thesupporting plate 26 and the sunray emits to the photoelectrictransformation unit 1, the sensor on the left side of the sensing unit28 may sense the sunray; on the contrary, the sensor on the right sideof the sensing unit 28 cannot sense the sunray. At this time the sensorson both the right and left sides drive the supporting plate 26 to tilt aspecific angle, so as to keep the angle between the photoelectrictransformation unit 1 and the sunray as optimal as possible. Inaddition, the sensing unit 28 disposed on the back surface of thesupporting plate 26 and/or the photoelectric transformation unit 1 cansense the first sunray at sunrise, and thus enables the operation of theentire sun tracing device 2.

Additionally, although the above-mentioned sensing unit 28 with theplurality of sensors is used as the example, each sensing unit 28 mayhave a single sensor in practice; meanwhile, the above-mentioned sensingunit 28 may further be disposed on the plurality of peripheries of thesupporting plate 26 and/or the photoelectric transformation unit 1.

The using states of the sun tracing device 2 of the present invention indifferent times are illustrated as follows. The structural aspects shownin FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 3A, and 3B are used for illustration, but notto limit the scope of the present invention.

Firstly, FIGS. 1A and 1B are the structural views of the sun tracingdevice 2 in the initial state (at sunrise). In other words, since thesun rises from east at the start of the day, the supporting plate 26 onthe sun tracing device 2 also faces east (i.e. the emitting direction ofthe sunray, shown as the arrow with the dotted line). At this time thesun tracing device 2 has not started working yet, so the fluid F of thesun tracing device 2 is in the containing unit 30, which means, theelevating element 22 a of the power unit 22 is in the lowest position.As a matter of course, since the power unit 22 has not started workingyet, the connected adjusting unit 24 does not work correspondingly.

However, after the sunrise, because the sensing unit 28 disposed on theback surface of the supporting plate 26 (or of the photoelectrictransformation unit 1) will drive the sun tracing device 2 to startworking after sensing the first sunray, the fluid F is delivered fromthe containing unit 30 to the fluid vat 22 b of the power unit 22 by theexternal force. As more amount of the fluid F is delivered to the fluidvat 22 b, the elevating element 22 a is brought to a higher positionuntil all fluid F is delivered to the fluid vat 22 b. After that (atthis time, stop providing the external force), the elevating element 22a is lifted to the highest position. Meanwhile, the connecting element24 c connected to the elevating element 22 a is also lifted, and thethree shaft arms 24 a and 24 b are lifted naturally with the supportingplate 26 connected to them.

As the fluid F in the fluid vat 22 b is affected by the weight and flowsto the containing unit 30 gradually, the elevating element 22 a islowered slowly and that will make the connecting element 24 and thethree shaft arms 24 a and 24 b start working. Hence, as the sun is rightabove the sun tracing device 2, the structural views of the sun tracingdevice 2 in the using state (in the noon) are shown in FIGS. 2A and 2B.In order to aim the photoelectric transformation unit 1 on thesupporting plate 26 at the sun, the part of the fluid F in the fluid vat22 b flows to the containing unit 30 at a proper speed under the controlof the valve 22 c. The supporting plate 26 is at a horizontal state forthe elevating element 22 a is lowered. To make the sunray has apreferable emitting angle as it emits to the photoelectrictransformation unit 1 on the supporting plate 26, the sensing unit 28disposed on the periphery of the supporting plate 26 may be used toactivate the three shaft arms 24 a and 24 b, so as to fine adjust thetilt angle of the supporting plate 26.

Subsequently, FIGS. 3A and 3B are the structural views of the suntracing device 2 in the final state (in the evening). Since the sun isin west at this time, the photoelectric transformation unit 1 on thesupporting plate 26 faces west. However, because the fluid F in thefluid vat 22 b almost flows to the containing unit 30 completely, theelevating element 22 a of the power unit 22 has been returned to thelowest position gradually.

At last, after the fluid F in the fluid vat 22 b has flowed to thecontaining unit 30 completely, the elevating element 22 a of the powerunit 22 is returned to the lowest position. At this time the sun hasgone down, the sensing unit 28 is not able to sense the sunray hence thethree shaft arms 24 a and 24 b in the adjusting unit 24 stop at the lastposition (i.e. the state that the photoelectric transformation unit 1faces west as shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B). Until the sun rises again, thesensing unit 28 disposed on the back surface of the supporting plate 26will receive the sunray, and the movements of the sun tracing device 2will be activated (e.g. activating the external forces such as a pumpfor delivering the fluid F from the containing unit 30 to the fluid vat22 b).

In addition, the sun tracing device disclosed in the present inventionfurther includes a wind power protection unit connected to the powerunit and the adjusting unit, so that after the wind speed reaches apredetermined value, the sun tracing device can forcibly return thepower unit and the adjusting unit back to the initial state. In otherwords, when the wind speed is so high that might damage the sun tracingdevice, the wind power protection unit will immediately leak out all ofthe fluid stored in the fluid vat to the containing unit, such that theelevating element is swiftly lowered down and forcibly return theadjusting unit and the supporting plate back to the initial state.

As the above-described photoelectric transformation unit is a solarpanel, it may be a concentration solar panel or a flat solar panel.Because of specific design of the concentration solar panel, the anglebetween the sun and the concentration solar panel is quite important.However, the sun tracing device of the present invention can alsosatisfy the strict requirement of an angle error smaller than 0.5degrees. Compared to the prior art, which can merely achieve an angleerror of 1 degree, the sun tracing device of the present inventionindeed has a relatively advantageous aiming effect, as well as arelatively apparent enhancement in electro-optic conversion efficiency.

As described above, a sun tracing device of the present invention liftsand lowers the adjusting unit through the weight unit, and fine adjuststhe tilt angle of the supporting plate by the adjusting unit. In theweight unit, the fluid is gradually leaked to a lower position from ahigher position by its own weight; hence in the whole sun tracingprocess, no extra force is needed. Meanwhile the flowing state (e.g. thespeed and flow rate) of the fluid can be controlled by the valve, suchthat the sun tracing device can be directionally adjusted with themoving speed and angle variation of the sun.

Although the invention has been described with reference to specificembodiments, this description is not meant to be construed in a limitingsense. Various modifications of the disclosed embodiments, as well asalternative embodiments, will be apparent to persons skilled in the art.It is, therefore, contemplated that the appended claims will cover allmodifications that fall within the true scope of the invention.

1. A sun tracing device, comprising: a power unit having at least oneelevating element; a supporting plate carrying a photoelectrictransformation unit; and an adjusting unit connected to the elevatingelement and the supporting plate, wherein the power unit is used tolift/lower the adjusting unit, and the adjusting unit changes a tiltangle of the supporting plate.
 2. The sun tracing device according toclaim 1, wherein the power unit is further connected to a containingunit substantially, and the power unit and the containing unit contain afluid flowing between the power unit and the containing unit.
 3. The suntracing device according to claim 2, wherein the power unit and/or thecontaining unit are further connected to an external power unit, and theexternal power unit provides a power for driving the fluid flowing fromthe containing unit to the power unit.
 4. The sun tracing deviceaccording to claim 2, wherein the fluid is selected from liquid, gas,and their combination.
 5. The sun tracing device according to claim 2,wherein a valve is disposed between the power unit and the containingunit, and the valve controls a flowing state of the fluid flowing fromthe power unit to the containing unit.
 6. The sun tracing deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the adjusting unit further comprises: aconnecting element connected to the elevating element; and at leastthree shaft arms coupled to the connecting element and the supportingplate, wherein each of the shaft arms has at least one end located onthe same plane and connected to a surface of the supporting plate. 7.The sun tracing device according to claim 6, wherein the shaft arms areextensible and/or compressible.
 8. The sun tracing device according toclaim 6, wherein the movement of the shaft arms includes a linearmovement or a rotation.
 9. The sun tracing device according to claim 1,further comprising: a wind protection unit connected to the power unitand the adjusting unit for forcibly enabling the power unit and theadjusting unit if a wind speed reaches a preset value.
 10. The suntracing device according to claim 1, further comprising: a sensing unitdisposed on at least a periphery and/or a back surface of the supportingplate and/or the photoelectric transformation unit for controlling theadjusting unit so as to activate the adjusting unit.
 11. The sun tracingdevice according to claim 10, wherein the sensing unit is aphotoelectric sensing unit.
 12. The sun tracing device according toclaim 1, wherein the photoelectric transformation unit is a solar panel.13. The sun tracing device according to claim 12, wherein the solarpanel is a concentrating solar panel or a flat solar panel.